A Plea for these Trying Times

Here is the issue: 

We have experienced some 'notable shudders' down the spine of many a human society right now - in more ways than one.  These shuddering movements that has rippled down the spine of many of our societies point to a number of problems in the body of the human species, the human reality...all of which need addressed, and sooner rather than later.

It is on that subject - the sudden shivers coursing throughout the human awareness and physique more notably than they have in my lifetime (short though it has been so far), shivers that tell of hunger, illness, and a lack of well-being for Humanity - that I feel a need to type this.

 

In the midst of the spread of a deadly virus that is taking many lives so far, and looks to be on track to take many more...

In the midst of numerous conflicting perceptions of reality, alongside a dangerously swelling perpetuation and overabundance of 'fake news,' 'propaganda,' and stories designed to manipulate people into believing or not believing - ultimately with division as the goal...

In the midst of 'leaders' (people in positions of often ill-gotten and ill-hoarded power) in economic and political systems trying to accumulate ends such as more wealth, and more control, through yet more draconian means...

In the midst of a time that has seen challenge after mounting challenge impeding upon and tarnishing the health of environments - the nature, the elements, the waters, the skies, the soils, the forests, the sands, the ice shelves, the clouds, the minerals, and more - that bore us and sustained us in physical life and form...

In a time of mass inner confusion, and of lackluster, self-focused, individualistic, and ego-driven 'solutions to these problems,' that leave them ultimately unsolved, and that teach us not much more than to numb ourselves to them...

...I am going to ask of you to be contrary to what you perceive as common sense that, when examined closely, centers on your own benefit at the expense of others...and re-examine your notion of what, and who, you consider yourself to be.

Chances are that the benefits you're experiencing by living as your 'self' currently are short-lived, and will dry up...and that they are the result of, whether you are aware of it or not, taking from others in some way. What, after all, is this not the case with in modernity...? What, after all, do we gain without great cost in the modern world, given the modern lifestyle and our modern, individualistic values?

- It isn't the case with our clothing;

- It isn't the case with our buildings - our schools, offices, storage facilities, workshops, or homes;

- It isn't the case with our food, or our waters;

- It isn't the case with what we deem our property, of any kind;

And - tragically and embarrassingly - it is too often even a struggle to secede our focus on benefiting ourselves first and upmost before any and all other things...with our relationships.

Be they acquaintanceships, friendships, family relations, romances, relations we have with our most dearly loved partners, relationships with our elders and ancestors, and even the relationships we have with our children...and, all of those who will inherit the Earth, the stars, and the learning that we have been fortunate enough to be able to pass on...all of those alongside and after them...

Be the relationships whatever kind that they may be, they, too, are too often motivated almost exclusively by a focus on our individual self.

So, given that this is not working - clearly, and has not been, ever, at all, really - I would plea that we all take a different course of action...of living, of being, of interacting, of influencing, of aiding and supporting...and of opposing (where and when and if it becomes, sadly, necessary).

Here is my plea:

Let's please, please expand our concept of what each of us sees as integrally related to and tied to our 'self.' We've been insistent on the claim and belief that we are 'individual people' - and leaving it at that - for a time too long in circumstances that demand we act with much more compassion, much more empathy, much more resilience, and much more vulnerability -- as a strength -- than that.

Because, whether it's giving more ventilation systems or masks to doctors, nurses, patients, and the like in hospitals and sick bed sites,

Or working to create a vaccine and/or other genuinely benevolent medicine that helps curtail those organisms that would bring about explosively dangerous epidemics, or revolutionizing the technologies and available resources to better the health of living beings in general,

Or planting the forests, cleaning the waters, and clearing the lands of toxic sludge and long-unused asphalt and tar,

Or bringing people together in genuinely close communities of friends, families, and loved ones of all ages and walks of life, to generate further solutions to problems, and create happier memories than have been experienced before (yes, that can be done),

Or change the systems and structures that ensnare, chain, and numb people so that they no longer impede upon the descendants of those who made them with less knowledge of their dangers than those enshackled within them...and repurpose them, their good qualities, and their empowering elements to better ourselves, each other, the world, and life itself...

...Regardless of what along these lines we focus on as individuals, we cannot enact such immense change on our own. Empathy and understanding of how to address the various needs each and every one of us - and others beyond human, too - has to take immense priority here. That, in the long term, is a clear matter of life -or- death, and the decision starts at an individual level to either broaden our awareness of what we care about as our very own self...or reject as if completely and utterly separate from, and cut off from, who we are.

If we successfully move into a world in which people can take a look at anything else, and say and feel, with sincerity and without doubt "This is me" of something that is not their own body, then we may yet stand more than such a small, meager chance at overcoming some of the greatest challenges we have seen and are currently seeing - and may even stand a chance at not repeating the mistakes that our least-wise of ancestors, and 'leaders,' have made into the problems we face today.

I plea and pray, and hope and beg, that we will move beyond our selves, as we currently know ourselves - and into a better world, as better people, united in better ways...as Humanity should be.